Ollie Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (6 page)

“I will think of all the things we will do once you come home.”

Ollie had grinned at that, but as soon as his repetitive chore of planting seeds started, his mind drifted into how he could make his relationship with Jonas work. Turning the issue over and around in his head didn’t help him push through to a solution or make the day pass any faster.

As the sun beat down on him, he lifted his hat and brushed his sweaty hair back. Ollie looked around at his brothers, wondering what they thought about while they worked. Sometimes they talked, but lately everyone had been quiet. Well, everyone but Ferris. Bailey’s mate was happy no matter what he was doing, and that joy seemed to radiate into Bailey. Oftentimes, the two of them worked side by side and talked the whole day through. Ollie had been envious of their bubbling laughter, but now he felt a different kind of jealousy. Bailey and Gannon could bring their mates out to work by their sides in the field. No matter what happened, McBride would never allow Ollie to do that with Jonas. Even if McBride didn’t realize who Jonas was when he saw him, one of his brothers, probably Caleb, would know
exactly
who Jonas was. Since Caleb hated Jonas, he would tell McBride all about him, and then McBride would have to send Jonas away.

Ollie’s heart hurt so desperately tears came to his eyes. If Jonas couldn’t stay, what would happen to him? Jonas no longer had any money since he’d sold everything and put the funds into Ollie’s account. In Jonas’s mind, this made Ollie his master. To Ollie, it only meant his love was utterly destitute. Still, the funds were Ollie’s. He could do whatever he wanted to with them. He would give everything back to Jonas and then…

“Watch him go.”

“What?” Caleb lifted his head and focused on Ollie.

“Nothing.”

“Are you sure you’re better?” Caleb moved a little closer.

“I’m fine.”

“Then why are you all bundled up?” Caleb wore only a pair of shorts because he said he loved the feel of the sun on his skin.

“Too much sun makes me itch.” Ollie wore trousers, a long-sleeved shirt, and a wide-brimmed hat. He tried to minimize the glare since it gave him headaches.

“You’re wearing a scarf.”

Ollie had forgotten all about that. Since he was a lawman, McBride was a keen observer. He noticed subtle changes in his slammers. He didn’t think it would be too long before McBride realized that Ollie had a new scar on his neck. What amazed him was that Caleb was just as observant.

“I don’t want the sun on my neck.”

“Right.” Caleb nodded, but he kept looking at Ollie.

“Stop it.”

“I’m just happy for you.”

“You are?” Caleb could be harsh, but he had moments of amazing kindness toward his brothers. The problem was that Ollie never knew which way the wind was blowing with Caleb. He was an enigma.

“The new thrall McBride bought yesterday looks very handsome.”

“Oh. Right.” Another problem added to the big pile Ollie already had to deal with. He hadn’t wanted to be rude, but if that thrall had entered, Jonas would have been exposed. How in the world was he going to put McBride and the thrall off another day?

“Since you’re better, you’ll have your first taste of blood tonight.”

Ollie nodded.

“But that’s not true, is it?”

“What?” Ollie jerked his gaze off the tidy row of seeds and up into Caleb’s eyes. The sunlight made them glitter, harshening his features with stark shadows under his high and wide cheekbones.

“Didn’t Jonas give up his neck for you?”

Ollie stopped breathing and almost passed out. How did Caleb know?

“I saw how he looked at you. I know he hungered for you. When he left, I told him if he took you, I’d hunt him down and kill him.”

“Damn you!” Ollie shot to his feet. Now he knew the real reason why Jonas had left him behind. “Why couldn’t you have just minded your own damn business?”

Caleb rose and loomed his superior height and weight over Ollie. Despite the fact that he was much bigger and could easily break Ollie in half, Ollie attacked him. “I could have been with him if not for you!” All his anger, frustration, and fear came pouring out as he swung wildly at his brother. He got in a good hit or two before Caleb dropped his shock and hit back, but rather than decimate him, Caleb put a massive hand on Ollie’s chest and pushed him, tripping him over a hump of dirt.

Sprawled out on the ground, Ollie discovered the sharp landing had knocked the wind out of him, but it had also put a quick end to the fight. As he gasped for breath, he realized Caleb had taken pity on him. A second blow could have killed him.

“I didn’t do it to hurt you.” Caleb was shaking, but it was clear that he had no intention of hitting Ollie again. Something, or perhaps someone, like McBride, had gotten Caleb to exercise some self-control. “I didn’t like Jonas taking advantage of you.”

And now Ollie knew that even if he overcame all the obstacles that were already in his path, there would always be more. Caleb would never stand for Ollie hooking up with Jonas. Rich, poor, destitute or not, Caleb would never warm up to Jonas. Even if Ollie got McBride to accept the illegal liaison, Caleb wouldn’t. If all of the men on the farm weren’t willing to help Ollie and Jonas be together, their relationship was doomed before it went any further than it already had.

“Why do you hate him so?” Ollie managed the words through gasps.

“He used you.”

“He loves me!”

Before Caleb could answer back, the other brothers and the two thralls surrounded them. Ollie shook off the offered hands and climbed to his feet. To prevent the fight from escalating, Ollie moved to a different row and continued to place the seeds in a tight line. He looked back over his shoulder, surprised to find Caleb looking at him. That he considered him wasn’t what was so odd. It was the look on his face that surprised Ollie. Caleb’s expression was one of pain. Did he feel badly for hurting Ollie? Or perhaps he felt sad that Ollie loved a man he could never have.

Unable to determine the cause of Caleb’s curious cast of features, Ollie split his attention between work and his house. He never saw anything, but that only heightened his concern about Jonas. Was he sleeping and dreaming of the perfect life they would never have together, or had Jonas realized his folly and left?

Ollie felt a driving urge to run home and make sure Jonas was still there. He tried to fight it, but he simply couldn’t. When the time for the midday meal came, Ollie practically ran to his house. When he opened the door, he was shocked to find McBride standing in the living room.

Jonas was curled up in a ball in the back of the closet. He had heard someone come in, but something had tipped him off to the fact it wasn’t his love. Perhaps it was the sound of his footfalls or some intuitive kind of knowing, but Jonas was fully aware that Ollie hadn’t entered. The only other person who would just come into Ollie’s house was McBride. Terrified that if he discovered him, he would beat him to death, Jonas crept into the only hiding place he had access to.

Trying to control his breathing only made it seem twice as loud and three times as fast. Hot tears of shame coursed down his cheeks. Jonas wasn’t embarrassed by his feelings for Ollie. What was so humiliating was that he could never make someone else understand. Leaving behind his lifestyle was the easiest thing in the world for Jonas to do. He had never grasped the sense of entitlement that so many of his class seemed to have. Jonas tried to be the carbon copy of his father, but the only way he mimicked him was in appearance. As a clone, Jonas looked just like his father. But that was where the similarities began and ended.

From the first time Jonas bared a slammer’s neck to drink his fill, he knew he would much rather be on the other end. Jonas wanted to give up his neck at a slammer’s demand. He wanted to be entirely submissive to another. Giving his blood, body, and soul to Ollie was the ultimate expression of his devotion. But Ollie had refused to go that far.

They had fed from one another, binding their blood, and Ollie had willingly taken when Jonas offered up his body, but he refused to bind their souls. Ollie insisted it was just a ritual without meaning, but if that were true, he wouldn’t resist consummating their union in such a way.

And that was when Jonas realized he’d left the candles, the decorative collar, and his only set of clothing on the floor of the bedroom. He had been cleaning up this morning when Ollie entered and messed everything right back up.

A shiver of excitement washed over Jonas when he remembered Ollie’s large hands, gripping him and bending him where he wanted him. Ollie had a way of taking control that made Jonas more than eager to submit. He was never cruel or brutal, just powerful and commanding. Despite his fear, Jonas became aroused. In the murky darkness of the closet, he glared down at his erect cock. Now was not the time! He couldn’t imagine how infuriated McBride would be to find him in his slammer’s closet with a powerful hard-on.

Straining, he tried to hear if McBride was moving around the house, but he heard nothing. What was he doing? He had to know that Ollie was out in the field. Ollie said McBride often looked their way and conducted random head counts. He trusted the brothers and the two new thralls to work, but McBride told Ollie he also liked to make sure things were going smoothly. If someone was missing, he wanted to know why. Also, if the progress was slow, he wanted to know what was stalling their advancement.

From all that Ollie had told him, McBride seemed a most benevolent master. He was conscientious, considerate, and caring. He’d never tossed any of the brothers in the stocks despite the fact that Caleb had given him dozens of reasons to do so. Rather than brutalize the eldest Morgan, McBride had taken to visiting with him and talking to him. Ollie seemed surprised that it had worked as well as it had. Ollie didn’t think anything would bring the rage in Caleb down a notch, but McBride was able to do so.

Jonas was in awe of him for that. As soon as Jonas had seen Caleb, he knew he would be trouble. Instead of forcing him to toe the line, Jonas had given him a private room, and the innocuous items he’d asked for, then let him be. Not once had Jonas come to drink from Caleb’s neck. For McBride to have tamed him was an astonishing feat.

While Jonas was sitting there contemplating the differences between the father and the son of the lineage McBride, Jonas heard the front door open and close. He heard two voices, but he didn’t hear what they were saying.

For what seemed forever, Jonas sat and sweated in the closet, straining to hear what was being said. He quite suddenly realized that even if he wanted to run, there was nowhere to go. And then he heard McBride’s voice clearly ask, “Is someone else here?”

The very idea of there being an interloper hiding on his farm in Ollie’s home so shocked McBride he didn’t hesitate. A dozen long-legged strides took him to Ollie’s bedroom. What he discovered was a tangled mess of bedclothes and two different outfits tossed on the floor. One set of clothing he recognized as Ollie’s, but the other clothing clearly wasn’t. The pants were too small for Ollie, and they were fashioned of expensive material. There was a shirt, too, made of silk. McBride didn’t have to touch it to know because he recognized the sheen of the fiber. Clothing fibers were his business after all. And then something about the colors—pale lavender and a rich mulberry—made a memory tug at his brain. What was it about that particular color combination that seemed familiar to him? Moreover, the size of the garments also pushed for recognition. The information was like a bubble rising up in his gray matter. If only he could get it to pop, everything would make sense.

“There’s no use hiding.” McBride considered that there was only one place that would hold a full-grown man. He tapped on the folding closet door. “Come out before I have to come in.”

Slowly, the closet door opened. A man with longish blond hair and worried eyes stepped out. McBride didn’t recognize him, but he was still struck by a curious kind of familiarity.

“I can explain,” Ollie began, but didn’t. He kept opening his mouth to speak, but nothing emerged other than air.

“It’s okay,” the blond said to Ollie. “I didn’t think me hiding out here was going to work for long.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come running in as soon as the midday meal was called. If I had stayed at work, or been more sedate, he wouldn’t have known.” Ollie moved to the man’s side. There was a distinct bite scar on the mystery man’s neck, one that looked like it had been brutally ripped open many times. On the other side was a smaller and far tidier mark, making McBride wonder how old and how often this thrall had been bandied about. If Ollie had already bought himself a mate, McBride was angry that he hadn’t known, but he was curious how Ollie had managed such a thing. Only gentrymen were able to buy thralls for slammers. And then the multiple scars registered that this man had been used dozens of times by at least a dozen men. He worried about blood-borne diseases, especially when they hadn’t cleared the Larsden case.

If this thrall had a sickness, he could pass it to Ollie, who would then in turn pass it to McBride. Just two nights ago, McBride had fed from Ollie’s neck. Afterward, he’d shared a meal with him and talked about the inappropriate relationship that Ollie had been subjected to at his last master’s hands.